Romney wades into, then out of, Virginia governor’s race
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney,right, his wife, Ann, second from right, wave to the crowd along with his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his wife, Janna, during a rally today at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. ( AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to make an endorsement in the 2013 Virginia governor’s race today while campaigning in Ashland with his new running mate, then walked it back before getting on his bus and moving on to his next stop.
During a rally at Randolph-Macon College, Romney was acknowledging the Republican leaders who had preceded him and running mate Paul Ryan on stage inside Crenshaw Gymnasium. The former Massachusetts governor singled out Lt. Gov. Bolling, the state chairman of Romney’s campaign and a long-time supporter.
“A great friend and, I hope, the next governor of this great state of Virginia,” Romney said of Bolling.
It would seem natural for Romney to support Bolling, given the lieutenant governor’s association with the presidential campaign. But Bolling is waging an already-contentious battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination with Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who was not at the Ashland rally Saturday. And Romney needs a united party behind him as he challenges President Barack Obama in a critical battleground state.
Romney’s remark about Bolling spread quickly on Twitter and some alert campaign staffer must have made the candidate aware of it. When Romney stepped outside to speak to an overflow crowd, he said this: “And we’re counting on you to make sure that when Bob McDonnell retires, I know this one term thing is an unusual thing in Virginia. We want to make sure to have a Republican take his place. There are a couple of guys in the race, I love them both. I want to see one of those guys take his place.”
Romney’s campaign later sent word that the candidate has not made an endorsement in the Virginia’s GOP nomination fight, which will be settled at a state convention next June.
– Michael Sluss
August 11, 2012 - 6:48 PM
Typical Romney! He’sfor something this morning and for something opposite this afternoon, dpending on who he is talking to at the time and what he thinks they want to hear. The man has no core.
24 MILLION out of work…24 MILLION !!!!!!!! ECONOMY….ECONOMY….Obama has put our ECONOMY in the toilet !!!!!!
Attention commenter who tried to post as “Ken Cuccinelli.”
I deleted your comment. Google tells your IP address is in the New River Valley, so I’m pretty sure you’re not really Virginia’s attorney general. While we don’t mind pseudonyms we do not want our readers misrepresenting themselves as someone else.
You can resubmit your post but please don’t borrow someone else’s identity to do so.
If of course I’m wrong and you’re the real Ken Cuccinelli, please contact me through email to verify. This is Mason Adams; I covered you for 4 years in the Virginia Senate from 2006-09.
– Mason Adams